Best Season Premiere

[Nerf]

Pretty basic question, but please give more than a basic answer. Why was it the best season opener? Did it give the season and its characters a good direction? Was it exciting? Were there any new characters introduced and were they handled well? Was it a good genre mix, encompassing drama, humor, action, etc? Did it begin that season with a story arc that last the entire, or half of the season? Was there an interesting and powerful foe for them to deal with? Was the Power of Three used? Not all of these need to be answered, they are just suggestions of what may have made this episode the best for you. Of course, feel free to add more reasons.

After you have chosen your favorite, please rank the episodes from your favorite/the best to your least favorite/the worst.

Here is a summary of each episode, in case you need a little reminder:

Something Wicca This Way Comes[/u]

Reunited in the grand Victorian home of their childhood, a trio of sisters (Prue, Piper, and Phoebe), discover they are witches. Gifted with magical powers, they are destined to protect the innocent and vanquish the forces of evil.

Witch Trial[/u]

On the sisters' anniversary of becoming witches, the Book of Shadows is stolen by a demon, who uses it to reverse their spells and bring back all the demons they had vanquished the year before. Meanwhile, Prue is still grieving from Andy's death, and Piper tries to find a way to finance her new club.

The Honeymoon's Over[/u]

After a month without Piper, Phoebe and Prue are struggling to deal with the club, housing bills, and not to mention demons, on their own. Piper and Leo finally return from the Whitelighter realm, determined to find a way to be together. Leo thinks he has found a way and proposes marriage to Piper, while the sisters battle a mortal criminal who is aided by demons. Phoebe gains the power of levitation, and falls head over heels for the new ADA, Cole Turner.

Charmed Again[/u]

With the death of Prue, the Power of Three has been broken. Piper succumbs to grief and decides she is done being a witch. But after Phoebe has a vision of the demon who killed Prue, the sisters set out to stop him from taking his next victim, who turns out to be their long lost sister, Paige. The Source of all Evil wants to stop her from reuniting the Charmed Ones, but when that fails he decides to try and turn her to the side of evil.

A Witch's Tail[/u]

Piper is pregnant and begins to become paranoid, worried that her destiny will be the same as her mother's, who was killed by a demon. Phoebe tries to push through a divorce with Cole, after he returns from the demonic wasteland with a huge amount of demonic powers. To help save a mermaid, Phoebe is transformed into one. But the call of the sea is too much for her, turning her heart cold and causing her to escape her problems by taking refuge beneath the waves.

Valhalley of the Dolls[/u]

The mysterious newcomer, Chris, has trapped Leo in Valhalla and taken his place as the Charmed Ones' whitelighter. Meanwhile, Piper is losing her ability to feel, leading Paige to cast a spell that backfires and causes Piper to lose her memory, and Phoebe gains a new power that she can't control. Even with all their troubles, the sisters go on a mission to find Leo, and go undercover by turning into Valkyries. They find and save Leo, but are forced to leave Piper behind, who sides with the Valkyries, now believing she is one of them.

A Call To Arms[/u]

After being betrayed by his mentor, Gideon, Leo abandons the Elders and his family, determined to find and vanquish the demon of fear, Barbus. Piper, with the death of future Chris at the hands of Gideon, is afraid of leaving her sons and isolates them in the manor. Phoebe and Paige try to return things to normal by tricking Piper and Leo into going to the Hindu wedding of one of their friends, but this leads to them being possessed by the spirits of the goddess Shakti, and her lover, Shiva. Taking orders from a mysterious new being, Barbus uses Leo's new powers and already erratic emotions to his advantage, pushing Leo over the edge and causing him to kill an Elder. Could this new threat be part of the gathering storm that the Elders fear is coming?

Still Charmed and Kicking[/u]

With the mortal and magical world believing them to be dead, the sisters and Leo take on new identities and prepare to lead normal lives. But Paige begins to have second thoughts when she can't escape the call of her new charge, Billie, a young witch that has just come into her powers. Meanwhile, not every demon believes that the Charmed Ones are dead...

[Nerf]

I thought I would be able to answer this right away. But after typing all of this up, now I'm not so sure. I know it is none from the first three season, nor S6, but I can't decide between the others right now. I'll think about it a little more, and maybe watch a few of the episodes, then come back and post.

But if the rest of you aren't as conflicted as I am, by all means, post away.

[Dark Witch.]

For me, it would have to be "Charmed Again". I know, weird right? Well, i love this episode. It was so dark, emotional, had some comedic moments, and a lot of emotion. I hate to say it, but I love it when characters die, cause you get to see the actors really deliver with emotion, and I feel that the cast did a great job. i love the entrance of Paige, maybe not the concept of the window of opportunity, but the concept of bringing a new witch in, and the girls having to train Paige. So, I felt this was my favorite out of all the others.

[Criminally Vulgar]

Awesome summaries, Ian! Did you write them all yourself?!

1x01 was way too simple. It was an amazing series premiere, but compared to some of the other season premieres, it doesn't stand too tall. 6x01-6x02 had a terrible concept (valkyries? especially after the overload of creatures in season five!?). Although it had some great plots and some pretty awesome acting, as a whole, it just marked off one of the show's weaker seasons.

I remember being so excited for 5x01-5x02. Since The Little Mermaid was always such a big part of my life, and this being a "mermaid episode", I was obsessed! Additionally, it was the first season premiere I watched when it originally aired (I started watching "fresh" Charmed [on the WB] from 4x02, the earlier episodes I caught on summer reruns or on TNT), and I remember overflowing my family's computer with screen captures and trailers from the first couple of promos for the premiere... ahh, nostalgia. But back on topic, "A Witch's Tail" was one of the stronger season premieres IMO. Ironically, now that I think about it, I think the only thing holding it back was the mermaids. It really set the rest of the season (and the series, for that matter) up to believe it was okay to rip off pop culture, include mythical creatures, or turn someone into something...

Bringing me to my next point, 7x01. By this time, the girls had been turned into EVERYTHING, and now this? I really do believe that the show was going on the right track towards the end of season six and this episode, it's just all the silly little things that they threw in along the way (Hogwarts, Survivor, and Spiderman ripoffs, the flashback and "sex Alyssa up" genie episodes, the lame "bad world" concept, and this) that really brought it down. By this episode, Barbus had completely lost any credibility making him a pretty weak baddie-of-the-week. Much better and darker than the previous premieres, but brought down by yet another transformation.

I really liked 8x01, and I think that the writers did a pretty good job of "reviving" the show, so to speak. This episode had a lot of great inclusions and did a great job of setting the rest of the season up, it was just a bit of a downer for the girls to be so tired and bored.

Thinking about it now, 2x01 was actually a really great premiere! The concept of their magic being on the line, as well as being attacked by all of their past vanquishes was an excellent plot, not to mention dealing with the aftermath of Andy's death. Although the premiere for one of the weaker seasons, it's actually one of the strongest episodes of the series in my book!

Like with 8x01, the writers did an excellent job of working around their real-life restraints when writing 4x01-4x02. There was so much suspense and mystery, and unlike other two-part episodes that seem to drag on and on, this episode actually stands strong as a single episode. Although this episode is in some ways, a huge slap in the face to Prue, it's probably one of the best of the series, which is why it earned my vote.

[David]

A Witch's Tail for me definitely. I love mermaids, my family tease me constantly about how much I like this episode, but it was one of the first ones I watched, since I didn't really get into the show until season five when Buffy was finishing. I came into the season really late, I think it had just finished and Living TV was rerunning the whole season in the summer and I caught this one and really just fell in love with the show.

But I also really like Valhalley of the Dolls as well, I know season six isn't that popular with the majority of Charmed fans, it wasn't with me when I was watching, but over the years, it has really grown on me. There are still a few stinkers which I refuse to watch such as Witchstock or the horrible finale, but overall, season six started well and got better as it went on. Some of it was silly, yeah, but it's entertainment.

Still Charmed and Kicking is another that I really like and I know a lot of others don't. I liked the vintage feel that it had, Phoebe was being classic Phoebe, Paige was soul searching and Piper was back at the club, it was very neat and tidy, and set up the season well. It wasn't an overly impressive episode by any means, but it was "nice".

Witch Trial was one that I've always liked the idea of more than the actual episode. I don't think it was played out as well as it could have been, but I liked the idea. The main problem with this episode was that there was no real tension until the end where they had to figure out the whole Power of Three as one thing. But, one of the better earlier openers.

The Honeymoon's Over is one that has grown on me immensely over the years. At first it was kind of boring, but I do actually like this episode now. I'm not the biggest season three fan, there was just too much Cole! But this episode was a strong opener, and set up loads of stoylines for the season; Cole/Piper and Leo/Cole and Phoebe.

The others Something Wicca This Way Comes, A Call to Arms and Charmed Again are all just okay. CA should have been better, but I didn't like the second hour much, and the directing in part one was horrible with those stupid camera angles! It really puts me off watching. ACtA was a bit silly, season seven is actually my favourite, and I'll admit it started off pretty weak, but it grew into for me, the best season Charmed ever had. Leaving SWTWC, it did it's job well, not overly excting, but then again first episodes never are are they? So there isn't much to say about that one, it served it's purpose but it's not one I can watch over and over.

[Glenn]

I can't choose between Witch Trial and The Honeymoon's over but I had to decide for the poll and just chose THO.

Something Wicca This Way Comes: It's not the best, but definitely not the worst season premiere. You can't compare this episode to other ones except the other season one episodes since the actors don't know their characters so well yet. I think Shannen did it very well considering she was feeling sick when filming. There are parts like the vanquish of Jeremy that could have been improved, I loved his little "I'm not the only one" speech but he didn't try to attack them once he made that tornado. This episode also has one of the best scene's of the whole series which is Phoebe discovering the Book of Shadows, I love that scene!

Witch Trial and The Honeymoon's Over: My favorites because of the storyline they both had, the demons, and other things.

Charmed Again: I liked this one, although I don't like part 2 so much. It had some really good action scene's like the one where Shax attacks Paige and I loved Holly in it.

Aug 2, 2009 9:01:55 GMT David said:

CA should have been better, but I didn't like the second hour much, and the directing in part one was horrible with those stupid camera angles! It really puts me off watching.

I think those were explained in the bonus features. I think they said that those angles are used in every series whenever something is wrong (like Prue's death) but I'm not sure. It bothered me at first but I don't now.

A Witch's Tail, Valhalley of the Dolls and A Call to Arms: they were good, enjoyable, but not the best season premieres. I think out of all three, A Witch's Tail is the best, although ACtA was a good episode too, A Witch's Tail had a better storyline.

Still Charmed and Kicking: Not my favorite episode but one of the best season premieres. It had a good storyline, the good amount of action but some scene's could have been done better.

[Lexi]

I've got to pick Something Wicca This Way Comes. Yes, the acting in some parts were a little odd but they were learning their characters, over time their characters grew which made the other episodes better on the acting front. But just to start a series, the pilot was great. It introduced us well to the main characters of the season Prue, Piper and PHoebe HAlliwell and Andy Trudeau. If it wasn't for that episode, the show probably wouldn't have taken off as well as it did and wouldn't have given them a chance to grow as a cast.

Witch Trial, The Honeymoons over and A Call to Arms were ok episodes. Out of them all, Witch Trial was the best. It showed how much the actors had grown together and almost how much the sisters had grown as...well...sisters.

Charmed Again and Still Charmed and Kicking were good, but I just wasn't a big fan of them. I'm not sure what it was about either of them to be honest, they just didn't hit me the way the other three did.

Valhalley of the Dolls and Witch's Tail were my least favourite two of the show. I groan whenever I realise that Witch's Tail is coming on. The whole Cole/Phoebe thing by that point annoys me that much and Valhalley of the Dolls...don't get me started! It just brings out a whole side to Leo that I never wanted him to turn into and really starts off his storyline of being Elder-Avatar-Mortal that I don't really care for.

So yeah...I vote for the pilot.

[Dom]

It blows my mind how many people dislike season 6. Aside from the not-so-great acting on Drew Fuller's part, I thought season 6 was the last half-decent season, but I might be biased because Season 6 was when I really got into the show. The effects were great, the storylines were pretty good except for a few duds (I, unlike many, DO like It's a bad [x4] world.)

Sorry for being OT, just thought I'd put my 2 cents in on that.

I voted for CA, for the fact that it was a great story, it was dark, and it set up the season for so much. I don't know, it's just dark, and that's what really keeps me interested. It's why I like SPN so much, it's a dark show, so it keeps me interested. Haha.

[Quiet Desperation]

Something Wicca This Way Comes: It was a great series premiere, and it's better if it stood by that title. It was a simple, yet very interesting opening for the series, and I really enjoy watching it till this day. But this doesn't get my vote.

Witch Trial: A fantastic season opener. The plot was amazing. Great acting. I loved the idea of bringing some past demons back. I loved the sisterly moments in this one. Prue's "guilt" was fantastically written and acted. Although one of my favourites, it doesn't get my vote.

The Honeymoon's Over: This was another brilliant season premiere. I loved it. It was almost perfect for me. I loved the changes that happened in a month. It was amazingly acted, not including Brian Krause (I always hated his acting, which made despise Leo most of the time). I loved the final scene in the court. It was very exciting, and it just made the episode even better. My vote goes to this episode.

Charmed Again: [edit] Okay, so, I'm gonna continue. The season four premiere was very good, IMO. A great introduction of Paige. I loved the dramatic scenes. It feels so much different than the previous season premieres. It was darker. Which isn't a bad think, at all. Okay, now I want to vote for this episode. Hmm...I still didn't actually send in my vote, so I'll decide later.

A Witch's Tale: I actually enjoyed this one. I loved Piper's storyline best. Her being weak was sad to watch, but enjoyable at the same time. Holly gave a great performance. As for the mermaid idea, I do like it. It is fresh and much lighter than any season four episode. Paige embracing her witch side more was a very good idea, and it did help to expand in her character a bit more. It was a great premiere, it really was. Not great enough to earn my vote, though.

Valhalley of the Dolls: I really enjoyed this one. Although, they did kind of repeat Piper's weakness from the season five premiere, but I don't mind it much. This premiere is very enjoyable to me. I'm actually a fan of season six, mostly because I don't like to focus much on the negative. Anyways, I loved the idea of including Valkyries and Valhalla. Overall, another great opener, and a different one, always a plus. Not my favourite out of all premieres, though.

A Call to Arms: Hmm...I guess this is my least favourite premiere. Although enjoyable, it doesn't live up to the title of being a premiere. It would be the same if it was a normal episode. I didn't like psycho Leo. I'm not a huge fan of the whatever Piper and Leo turned into idea. They could've come up with better ideas. A nice episode, but my least favourite premiere.

Still Charmed and Kicking: I really enjoyed this one. It was a great opener. I did love the idea of them changing the identities back in the season seven finale, and then changed themselves for good, and made only family notice who they really are. A fantastic idea to not annoy fans. I liked the Billie introduction, but that's about it. It was the best one, but still a nice idea. I enjoyed watching the sister's lives after the transformation, alot. And plus, Grams had some screentime, another awesome idea. Overall, a great opener. One of my favourite episodes, but not the best premiere for me.